1. Field of the Invention:
The present invention relates to a container for housing mobile work objects and, more particularly, to such a container which is uniquely well suited to housing infant animals during the period immediately after birth affording protection and confining them to a proscribed area.
2. Description of the Prior Art:
It is well known that newborn animals require care during their infancy to an extent equivalent to that required by human infants. It is also known that pregnant female animals perform better in the care of the infants if they are allowed to adapt to the area in which they will give birth and thereafter nurse the infant animals. One result of the recognition of these considerations is the use of appliances known as "whelping boxes." "Whelping," or birthing, is the appellation applied to such devices which are intended for use both before and after the birth. For example, the period of gestation for canines averages about sixty-three days. It is known that the pregnant female performs better, both during and after birth, if placed in a confined, or whelping area, about fifty to fifty-five days into the period of gestation. This allows the pregnant female to adapt her surroundings, to be comfortable during the birth and to care for the newborn puppies after birth.
Following delivery, the infant animals benefit from significantly enhanced care if they are confined to a whelping box with the female. The infants require the warmth of each other and the mother for optimum development. Housing of the infants in a confined area prevents their wondering off where they do not have the benefit of the warmth and do not have access to the mother for nursing. Retaining the infants in a confined area also encourages the mother to care for them, to clean them and otherwise care for their needs.
There are, however, significant problems with the use of conventional whelping boxes. By confining the infants to a small area, the mother may inadvertently suffocate, or otherwise injure, one or more of the infants, particularly where the infant becomes isolated from the others between a wall of the whelping box and the back of the mother. While it has been known to construct whelping boxes with a recessed area defined by a ledge extending inwardly of the confining area from the walls of the whelping box and upwardly spaced from the floor, such conventional structures have not proven entirely satisfactorily. In such conventional structures, the isolated infant is provided with a recessed area in which it may inadvertently be pushed by the adult female, but which prevents the mother from suffocating or otherwise injuring the infant. However, such conventional structures serve as a step for the infant animals as they develop permitting them to escape from the confining area prior to their being sufficiently developed.
Other problems associated with the use of conventional whelping boxes include the fact that they are of an inconvenient size to permit them conveniently to be transported and stored. While this problem is encountered to one degree or another in all instances of use, in the case of private and commercial breeders, veterinary hospitals, zoological facilities and the like, these problems are compounded by the number and frequency with which they must be employed. A direct consequence of this inconvenience is that such whelping boxes are actually employed in significantly fewer instances than would be desirable.
Therefore, it has long been known that it would be desirable to have a container for housing mobile work objects which is uniquely well suited to use as a confining area for infant animals; which affords the capability of protecting the infant animals from inadvertent injury from the mother; which prevents the infant animals from escaping from the confining area until they are sufficiently developed; which avoids the problems associated with conventional devices designed for the same purpose; and which is significantly less expensive to purchase and use than has heretofore been possible.